By Julius Melnitzer | May 18, 2023 There are very few Black females leading legal departments in Canada. Giselle Basanta, a latecomer to the law after the better part of two decades as a public servant, is one of them. She is only aware of four others. When George Brown College went looking for a […]
Photo by Amirr Zolfaqari at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 15, 2023 I spoke to a young lawyer the other day who hails from another country. I will call her Natalie. Natalie explained to me that where she comes from, the culture is such that self-promotion is frowned upon. In her country, people do not […]
Christine Silversides says teamwork, hard work, dedication, creativity, and training are key to managing the demanding workload By Julius Melnitzer | May 13, 2023 In 2006, Christine Silversides joined York University’s Office of the Counsel as director of legal services, becoming the fourth lawyer on the team. Thirteen years later, Silversides became general counsel. As it […]
Photo by Dustin Tray at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 11, 2023 Now that I have been retired for a few years, I sometimes wonder whether my experience as to how law firms work remains valid. Also, since I spent my days with medium-sized firms and not in Big Law, I occasionally worry that […]
Sandra Montanino is the program’s new executive director By Julius Melnitzer | May 10, 2023 A record 16 candidates will comprise the Women General Counsel Canada’s General Counsel University fourth cohort class, with Sandra Montanino as the program’s new executive director. Nine candidates from the third cohort graduated on April 21, while the first and second […]
Go says the challenges at a professional organization are different than at entrepreneurial companies. By Julius Melnitzer | May 9, 2023 Seung Byong Light Go didn’t choose a legal career because he wanted to be a lawyer – but now delights in being one. “I chose law because it offered opportunities to do other things,” he […]
George Palikaras says trolls show up when startups are raising money By Julius Melnitzer | May 8, 2023 Pre-IPO companies and startups in earlier financing cycles need their due diligence to go smoothly. No surprise, then, that a recent study has found that while patent litigation initiated by operating companies has declined in recent years, suits […]
Ralph Cuervo-Lorens says hiring yet another lawyer for dispute resolution may be counterintuitive, but clients like it By Julius Melnitzer | May 2, 2023 Just about any legal department would concur that legal costs are high enough, thank you. The prospect of adding another lawyer to the dispute resolution team is, at best counterintuitive, at worst, […]
By: Julius Melnitzer | April 25, 2023 In its 2023 budget, the federal government announced plans to require that federally regulated pension plan sponsors disclose their cryptocurrency asset exposure. To that end, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions will be consulting with impacted organizations on the content of the forthcoming guidelines. “Just how these guidelines […]
Theresa Ducket says it’s not difficult to get buy-in for pro bono from her team By Julius Melnitzer | April 21, 2023 Law firms seem to do a much better job touting their pro bono work – not to mention themselves – than do in-house legal departments. Surprising it may be, then, to discover that more […]